FDR Fireside Chat Reference In Scott's Tower Calendar

[Sid Schweiger]

"Not to digress too far but can you give some examples? (re "And today our president goes down the exact same road with an exactly opposite reaction...one gigantic yawn" ) You aren't referring to the opinions expressed on the Fox (so-called) News Network are you?"

This has nothing to do with who's covering the story.  The president has arrogated to himself via executive order the powers of judge, jury and executioner, by deciding that he and he alone can decide to have American citizens killed, without judicial review, in the name of fighting terrorism.  The attacks on his position have come from all sides, justifiably so.  Whatever happened to "No person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property, without due process of law?"

Whether from the right or from the left, too few people seem to understand that the president's position is not only a blatant violation of the constitutional separation of powers, but it is a terrible lesson to our youth, who are only going to take away from this the lesson that the rule of law means nothing.  We also apparently are unable to learn from our history.  Long before Nixon's excesses, a certain US senator went down this road in the 1950's.  He also thought the ends justified the means, and the judgment of history is that we shamed ourselves before the world by even daring to think he was right.

I seem to recall that, almost 60 years ago, it was a TV journalist, taking on that senator, who said:  "We cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home.  We can deny our heritage and our history, but we cannot escape responsibility for the result."